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When we returned home last weekend from a  vacation trip to my sister's home in Florida and a fishing/birding trip to the Florida Everglades, I planned to write all about it and post a few of the hundreds of photos I had taken.

We had paddled and trolled quietly past several rookeries (VERY quietly, I promise, and not so closely--not one bird was disturbed by our presence; if it had been, we would not have approached).  I had managed to get  photos of birds I love and a few I had never seen before.  A Wurdemann's Heron worked on its nest just as dawn was breaking; a Bald Eagle perched on a treetop silhouetted against the rising sun; a Green Heron froze on its nest but remained calm, watching as we watched.  There were also jumping tarpon (I unsuccessfully battled one as big as I am for over half an hour until it took one more magnificent leap and broke the line), and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles bubbling up to the water's surface  to look around, and Spotted Eagle Rays that leaped and soared as we fished in the early morning.   It was a wonderful experience.

Each evening after we  returned to the cabin,  I transferred photos from my camera to my powerbook.  As I always do now that I am blogging, I went over in my head just which pictures I would post and what I would write about so that friends and grandchildren could share the good time.  But since we were leaving the dock by 5 AM each day, I went to bed early and postponed posting until we returned home.

The problem occurred on the night we got home:  my computer crashed.  Maybe it was with a bang or maybe a whimper--but it was gone when I found it the next morning and I haven't been able to revive it.  It died with a new battery I had installed and a new power cord that had been waiting in the mail at home.  I don't know how exactly, but I killed it-- and somehow, along with it, my backup exterior disk. When it crashed (Macs aren't supposed to crash!  Mine had been a jewel for seven years), I was letting the newly charged  battery discharge while I backed up everything.  If you know the painting of Van Gogh's Scream, you know how I look and feel.

Of course I am still in mourning and trying to find a solution.  I can manage small posts with my iphone (I think--this is a test), but that explains why there's been no word from me in two weeks (my last post consisted on a few photos from home and two from the trip; I wrote it in Florida but decided not to mention that we were away from home).

Anyway, that's the depressing story of why I'm not blogging.  The yard is full of birds with the end of migration, the beginning of feeding young in the nest, and the joy of fledglings that noisily follow their parents around.  I will try a post later today using the photos I've taken this week.  (If my iphone doesn't work well for posting, I'll  try my husband's computer if he will quit playing poker for a while.)

The few photos here were among the ten or so still on my camera.  Don't you love the dragon flies that were in my sister's yard?

 Just blogging about the horrible death of my computer and disappearance of my photos makes me feel better. (That's what friends are for.)

I think I'll go see if I can find out what kinds of  dragonflies these are.  Or stroll up the driveway to look for late warblers.  Or listen for the baby Brown-crested Flycatchers in the bird house beside the driveway.  Or catch a glimpse of the Altamira Orioles as they slip out of their swaying nest.

I can always take more pictures.